5 firms will offer staff cash to live in downtown Detroit

**masterblaster** · July-24-11, 01:03 AM

5 firms will offer staff cash to live in downtown Detroit
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110723/...#ixzz1Szv1HP59

'Five Detroit-based companies are expected Monday to announce a new program that will provide financial incentives for employees to live in downtown Detroit and surrounding neighborhoods, similar to the Live Midtown initiative started earlier this year, according to a person familiar with the program.

The program called Live Downtown would involve Quicken Loans Inc., Compuware Corp., Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Strategic Staffing Solutions and DTE Energy, whose employees would be offered financial incentives to buy homes and rent apartments in the boundaries of downtown, Corktown, Eastern Market, Lafayette Park, Midtown and Woodbridge neighborhoods, the source said.

A news conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday to announce the details."
READ THE ARTICLE FOR THE SPECIFIC FINANCIAL INCENTIVE FIGURES

This is great news. The momentum of downtown and midtown is really becoming magnified.

I wish all of this demand/investment/furor over downtown would have happened earlier enough to have saved Old Cass Tech, though.

**HelloIDistance** · July-24-11, 01:13 AM

I'm jealous, this is great. I just wish I could get a job in the accounting/finance field in Detroit. A lot of firms are in Southfield and other suburbs. I wanna live and work in Detroit!

**Meddle** · July-24-11, 02:44 AM

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
DTE Energy

Great. Higher medical insurance premiums and energy rates. That oughta help a lot.

detroitjim · July-24-11, 08:43 AM

It appears that someone feels the need to attract more sheep to the hunting ground.

Niiiiice!!!!!

**Jowlska** · July-24-11, 11:19 AM

I've been looking for a nice apartment downtown but it seems like every place I would want to live in has no available one bedroom units. It would be nice to see them give incentives to developers or something to build or renovate more apartment buildings. I think that more people would move downtown even without cash incentives if there were more apartment options there.

**3WC** · July-24-11, 11:40 AM

Does anyone know if there's another city in the country where employers have to pay people to live in the city? In the world?

**Gistok** · July-24-11, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by 3WC

Does anyone know if there's another city in the country where employers have to pay people to live in the city? In the world?

LOL... my guess would be Juarez Mexico.....

**dtowncitylover** · July-24-11, 11:52 AM

It seems a little desperate...

**Jowlska** · July-24-11, 11:53 AM

Yeah, it seems like these incentives would only attract the people that live here without them anyways...

**iheartthed** · July-24-11, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by 3WC

Does anyone know if there's another city in the country where employers have to pay people to live in the city? In the world?

If this is successful I'll bet you see more...

**Mind field** · July-24-11, 12:12 PM

Originally Posted by 3WC

Does anyone know if there's another city in the country where employers have to pay people to live in the city? In the world?

You can't stand the prospect of the core of Detroit improving, can you? You just might have to change your user name!

Philadelphia
http://cms.business-services.upenn.e...able-loan.html

New York City
http://www.renewnyc.com/ProjectsAndP...nt_program.asp

**Mind field** · July-24-11, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by Jowlska

Yeah, it seems like these incentives would only attract the people that live here without them anyways...

That's not necessarily true, so don't make assumptions. There are probably a significant number of employees at these companies who would be on the fence about living downtown, but chose the burbs for whatever personal reason. This could definitely be the extra push they needed to live downtown.

**illwill** · July-24-11, 12:20 PM

I agree.

I think it has a negative impact and makes Detroit look cheesy. It makes the city appear to be worse than it really is. It makes us look pitiful, needy and dependent.

I also don't like the "cool city" campaign that mainly goes on in Michigan. I think it takes away from organic growth. Cool is WHEREVER YOU'RE HAPPY AND WHEREVER YOU WANT TO BE. Detroit is a "great" place to be no matter how the city is portrayed. No company should have to pay a person to move to a certain 20 block radius. And no government should have to tell us what is cool.

Who wants to be in a place where your local government is telling you to live in a certain place because it's cool? How much does the government know about what is cool and what isn't? I'm sure most Detroiters would prefer NOT to be assoicated with what the government considers to be cool. It's like your parents telling you what is cool.

It makes me laugh at what our home has become...

**MSUguy** · July-24-11, 12:57 PM

It's been done in University City where Penn and Drexel are in Philly for 15 years and it been very sucucessful. This thread is just dripping with ignorance

**Meddle** · July-24-11, 01:02 PM

I've heard of Penn & Teller, but never Penn & Drexel. Is one of them a mime too?

**casscorridor** · July-24-11, 02:05 PM

They should provide financing for building renovations to add additional units of housing as well also updating the existing housing. After that should come new construction, and more retail.

Jobs > Housing > Retail

**Flintoid** · July-24-11, 02:20 PM

illwill do you know much about urban redevelopment methods? Programs like this have been used across the nation, with an incredibly successful example being the University of Pennsylvania in Philly. This was a huge success there and has been replicated across the nation. To pretend that this is only happening in Detroit shows a lack of knowledge about what has worked across the nation in urban redevelopment.

**Gistok** · July-24-11, 03:14 PM

Realistically I can see younger folks moving out of their parents house or rental properties, taking them up on this offer. But I don't see much prospect of older [[or younger) folks who's home value has dropped... I doubt the incentive to sell their depressed value home for a rental [[i.e. no mortgage interest deductions) will get many takers.

**coracle** · July-24-11, 03:42 PM

I don't think it will attract desirable young married couples who want to have a family. But it will attract older single persons; maybe older married couples who's family has left home; maybe people already living in a less desirous area of the city; but definitely same sex couples will go for it. I think a lot will depend on the deal and how easy it is to contract out financially if they have a change of mind. Working in a large city is exciting but being trapped in it every and all day can be a nightmare if you find you don't like it.

**English** · July-25-11, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by MSUguy

It's been done in University City where Penn and Drexel are in Philly for 15 years and it been very sucucessful. This thread is just dripping with ignorance

Yes, it is. People are posting out of the sides of their necks... in the meantime, many of us young professionals [[some DINKs) cannot take advantage of the Live Midtown incentive because everything is full. There is already zero availability in most of the CBD buildings. This has all happened within the past six months.

When I first started looking at my neighborhood on the river, there were openings and several listings on the real estate website. Today, there is zero availability. At least five people bid on my place, including three of my neighbors. Someone at the DYes picnic asked me about occupancy in the high rises, because a lot of the windows "are dark at night." I've been getting in most evenings/nights after dark and just about every light is on.

Well. Maybe the leasing company is turning the lights on, so that people think folks are living there. Of course.

Ah, metro Detroiters... where every day is 1983. That's OK, I'm with some of my compatriots upthread. Keep thinking Detroit is crap, and that the future of home ownership and investment is in the boondocks. Maybe you're right and we're wrong, since you've been right since 1945. Or... maybe...

Well.

We shall see.

**Detroitej72** · July-25-11, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by coracle

I don't think it will attract desirable young married couples who want to have a family.

It might if the governor gets his way and all suburban schools have to become schools of choice.

**rencense** · July-25-11, 02:06 PM

these incentives seem a little ironic to me since I'm planning a move to the downtown area pending finding a job downtown anyway. Thats not to say that I won't take them up on the offer; it may mean i can afford a nicer place than i could otherwise but its not a deal breaker. This also means I'm focusing more and more on businesses downtown esp ones that are now making deals like this.

The only downside is that people can make this look bad for the city as though they have to offer bribes for anyone to live there. This really isn't true though and the majority of growth downtown/midtown hasn't required incentives. I imagine theres some behind the scenes stuff going on but these companies are offering this freely...its not as though bing is writing personal checks to everyone. I think the incentives are great but they wouldn't be enough to convince someone to move to detroit if they weren't already open to the idea. I hope these programs are successful and get people here long enough to decide to stay even when the incentives go away.

**esp1986** · July-25-11, 02:17 PM

Most people choose to live in the suburbs because the cost of living is lower. The cost of building and maintaining in the city is higher because you're building up, instead of out. With the increasing demand anyway, Downtown is right on the edge right now. Demand is finally getting to the point where residential projects will be financially viable. With these incentives, more people will be willing to live Downtown. With all of the pent-up demand, developers will be able to charge higher rental rates, as we are already seeing. The higher rental rates will make more of these projects possible and soon, we will likely see more residential projects Downtown.

**brizee** · July-25-11, 04:07 PM

Amazing.

From up thread and the geniuses on the radio this is actually being talked about as a detriment.

It looks like the applicable area is pretty huge. Will post a picture if I can.

Also DTE will apparently be moving 500-600 of it's employees from Southfield/the burbs downtown in the very near future.

**Bham1982** · July-25-11, 04:33 PM

I have never heard of something like this before in my life, and wouldn't be surprised if it were unprecedented in a major world city.

No, the previous cited examples are not comparable.

In NYC, there was some cash given to folks who lived in the immediate radius of 9-11, and had evidence of apartment physical damage or potential ill health effects. Obviously not comparable.

In Philly, there were some universities offering financial incentives for buying certain properties in the hood, not any property, not renting, and not downtown.

On the one hand, this is a serious investment by committed anchors of the region. On the other hand, it speaks to the desperate measures that need to be taken to convince folks to live downtown.

And I am very skeptical of the claims of a downtown "apartment shortage" and the like. If there's such demand, then why are these companies making such aggressive cash subsidies?

I know it's anecdotal, but a friend of mine just renewed at one of the Lafayette Park towers, for $660 a month. It was a renewal, and at the same rate as last year. Certainly no frenzy of interest in his building.

But I think this is a good idea, and it speaks to an amazing committment. I would probablty not have the cojones to make such a committment if I were a decisionmaker at one of these firms.